UK-wide, businesses are struggling to keep their heads above water during this era of ‘lockdown hokey-cokey, and it’s not quite over yet.
With staff furloughed or re-directed, work capacity is lower, so many have chosen to concentrate on their core process – making a buck. With profits slashed by lockdown, SMEs are running as lean as possible. In response, many are considering certification lapse until trading gets back to ‘normal’. But is this wise?
Certification is key to post-lockdown recovery
When lockdown restrictions lift, which we hope they will soon, those businesses that have maintained certification are – bluntly – most likely to survive in a reduced marketplace. In contrast, those that have allowed certification to lapse will undoubtedly give the impression of lost quality. Their procurement edge vanishes, and the future will be even harder. But how can small- to medium-sized enterprises already stretched to the limit maintain certification in such desperate times?
Internal auditing services for key ISO standards
There is hope. Firstly, certification bodies are not inhuman, and do understand the challenges that small organisations face, allowing a degree of leniency such as remote auditing and postponed audit elements. Secondly, we can help.
If you’ve had to furlough your own auditor or divert them onto more immediately pressing work, QEM solutions can carry out internal auditing for you. We provide the auditor, and will proceed in accordance with COVID restrictions in place at that time. You can get on with running your business without worry or distraction, while we take on the audits that are vital to your continued certification in key ISO Standards 27001, 9001, 14001 or 45001.
Why QEM?
With its roots in engineering, QEM is crucially aware of the importance of certification in business visibility, trust and prosperity. Since 2003, we’ve taken that hands-on experience and offered it to clients UK-wide to guide them through their own audits. Demystifying the process, our focus is on making it transparent, manageable, normal. Which is what we all need, in an increasingly complicated world.
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